E 

440 
D5 


£440 


BRECKTNBIDGE    AND   LANE    CAMPAIGN   DOCUMENTS,   No.   6. 

FKOM  THE  N.  T.  HEEALD  OF  JULY  19,  1860. 


IMMENSE  GATHERING  AT  THE  COOPER  INSTITUTE. 


INSIDE  AND  OTJTSIDE  ASSEMBLAGES. 


ENTHUSIASM    TOR    BRECKINRIDGE    AND    LANE! 

*-»-•-•-* • 

TEN   THOUSAND  DEMOCRATS   ON   GUARD. 


IMPORTANT    SPEECH    OF    DANIEL    S. ''DICKINSON. 


INTERESTING  LETTERS  FROM  PRESIDENT  BUCHANAN,  GOT. 
STEVENS,  AND  CHARLES  O'CONNOR,  ETC.,  ETC.,  ETC. 


A  most  imposing  mass  meeting  of  the 
democrats  of  this  city  who  are  in  favor  of 
the  election  of  Breckinridge  and  Lane  to 
the  Presidency  and  Vice-Presidency  of  the 
United  States  was  held  last  evening  in  the 
lower  hall  of  the  Cooper  Institute,  in  pur 
suance  of  a  regular  call: 

The  platform  was  profusely  hung  around 
with  the  American  flag,  and  some  of  the  co 
lumns  were  also  tastefully  draped  with  the 
same  article.  On  the  right  of  the  centre 
arch  of  the  platform  was  hung  a  portrait  of 
Breckinridge,  inscribed : 

"For  President,  (Portrait)  John  C.  Breckin 
ridge."  '  x 

And  on  the  left  side  was  a  similar  portrait 
of  Lane,  inscribed : 

"For  Vice-President,  (Portrait,)  Gen.  Joseph 
Lane." 

Eight  and  left  of  these  Presidential  por 
traits  were  spread  strips  of  canvas  with  the 
following  mottoes : 

"  Breckinridge  and  Lane,  the  standard  bearers 
of  the  Union  and  the  Constitution.  Stand  Firm.'» 

"  Bring  up  the  infantry  as  quickly  as  possible, 
while  I  look  in  upon  the  enemy  with  the  dra 
goons". — Gen.  Lwie  at  the  charge  of  Atlixco. 

On  a  canvas  in  front  of  the  platform  was 
the  insciiptioa: — 

"  National  Democratic  Volunteers." 
And  on  either  sides  were  similar  stripes 
with  these  inscriptions  : — 


"  The  Rail-Splitter  shall  not  Split  the  Union." 
"John  Brown  was  a  Squatter  Sovereign." 
Between   the   portraits  of   Breckinridge 
and  Lane  hung  a  canvas  with  this  inscrip 
tion  : — 

"  The  Constitution  and  the  equality  of  States  ; 
these  are  the  symbols  of  everlasting  union.  Let 
these  be  the  rallying  cry  of  the  people." — Breckin- 
ridye. 

At  the  back  of  the  platform  was  a  canvas 
with  this  motto  : — 

"  Take  care  of  the  Constitution  and  the  Union 
will  take  care  of  itaelf." 

As  soon  as  the  doors  were  opened  there 
was  a  tremendous  rush  for  seats,  and  in  less 
than  ten  minutes  the  spacious  hall  was  filled, 
and  in  the  course  of  the  evening  every  fa 
vorable  standing  point  was  occupied.  All 
the  seats  upon  the  platform  were  filled  by 
leading  democrats,  among  whom  our  repor 
ter  recognized  the  following: — Augustus 
Schell,  Hon.  E.  B.  Hart,  John  J.  Cisco, 
Capt.  Rynders,  Capt.  Smith,  of  the  Street 
Department :  Chas.  H.  Haswell,  Jacob  A. 
Westervelt,  Stephen  P.  Russell,  Hiram 
Cranston,  Philip  W.  Engs,  George  Varianj 
George  Baldwin,  Edwin  Croswell,  &c. 

There  was  an  excellent  band  of  music 
stationed  in  a  corner  of  the  platform,  which 
filled  up  the  tedious  moments  before  organi 
zation  and  the  interims  of  the  proceedings 
very  agreeably.  An  enterprising  individual 
provided  himself  with  miniature  daguerreo 


WASHINGTON  CITY— Issued  by  the  National  Democratic  Executive  Committee,  1860. 


M35455 


types  of  Breckinridge  and  Lane,  which  he 
retailed  among  the  admirers  of  those  gentle 
men  at  a  small  charge. 

That  celebrated  piece  of  ordinance,  the 
Empire  Club  pocket  pistol,  was  planted  in 
the  street  at  Astor  place,  and  at  intervals 
awakened  the  echoes  of  that  peaceful  loca 
lity  with  its  frequent  discharges. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  a 
quarter  past  eight  P.M.,  by  Mr.  J.  D.  Henry, 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Arrange 
ments,  who  nominated  as  Chairman  of  the 
meeting  Mr.  John  D.  Brower,  shipping  mer 
chant.  The  nomination  was  applaudingly 
ratified. 

SPEECH -OF  JOHN  H.  BROWER. 
Ms.  BROWER,  on  taking  the  chair,  said  : 
FELLOW  DRV  OCR  ATS — In  the  object  of  this 
meeting  I  entirely  and  heartily  concur.  I 
feel  and  appreciate  the  honor  your  vote  has 
conferred  upon  me,  and  thank  you  for  it.  The 
peculiar  position  of  the  democratic  party, 
at  this  time,  is  greatly  to  be  deplored  ;  but 
it  is  not  by  any  fault  or  delinquency  of  ours. 
We  need  no  other  evidence  to  give  assur 
ance  that  the  democratic  masses  of  the  city 
of  New  York  are  largely  represented  here, 
than  the  character  and  fidelity  of  the  men 
who  now  surround  me.  These  are  the  thou 
sands  who  do  not  bow  the  knee  to  Baal. 
(Cheers  and  counter-cheers  for  Douglas.) 
But  the  question  of  "  regularity"  is  much 
discussed,  and  we  are  told  that  Mr.  Breck- 
inridge  for  President,  and  General  Lane  for 
Vice-President,  are  not  regular  democratic 
nominations,  and  that  Mr.  Douglas  and 
Mr.  Johnson  are  regular.  This  we  esteem 
more  a  matter  of  fancy  than  of  fact.  (Cheers) 
Our  opinion  is  that  the  majority  of  the 
Douglas  Convention  was  packed  expressly 
for  the  man,  that  the  thirty-five  rotes  of 
New  York,  were  bargained  for  and  sold 
prior  to  the  election  of  delegates  to  the  State 
Convention,  which  met  at  Syracuse  on  the 
14th  of  September  last,  that  the  choice  of 
many  of  these  delegates  was  managed  with 
express  reference  to  that  result,  and  that  the 
masses  of  the  democracy  of  Yew  York  had 
no  voice  in  the  Baltimore-Charleston  nomi 
nations.  (Cheers.)  Upon  this  ground, 
therefore,  the  nominations  of  Mr.  Douglas 
and  Mr.  Johnson  appear  to  us  as  not  regu 
lar,  but  a  usurpation.  (Cheers.)  That 
it  was  not  a  National  Democratic  Con 
vention  which  nominated  Mr.  Douglas,  we 
consider  proved,  in  the  fact  that  the  dele 
gates  from  the  democratic  States,  with  the 
President  of  that  Convention,  protested 
against  its  proceedings,  and  were  constrain 
ed  to  withdraw  from  it.  ("  Hurrah  for 
Douglas,"  and  cheers.)  The  Presidential 
nominee  of  that  Convention  is  himself  not  a 
regular — he  is  schismatic,  and  not  in  good 
standing  in  the  democratic  party,  inasmuch 


as  he  stands  opposed  to  its  avowed  princi 
ples,  and  still  .repudiates  them  after  their 
confirmation  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  tho 
United  States.  For  the  proof  of  this,  I 
appeal  to  the  speech  of  Senator  Benjamin, 
recently  pronounced  in  the  Senate. 

The  principles  of  the  present  democratic 
administration  have  been  thwarted,  and  the 
^party  disrupted  by  the  nominee  of  the  Balti 
more-Charleston  Convention  and  his  follow 
ers  in  his  assumption  of  a  sovereignty  for  the 
Territories,  which  has  never  been  pretended 
by  any  well-received  expounder  of  the  con 
stitution,  and  which  can  never  be  maintained 
as  a  principle  of  constitutional  law,  any  more 
than  could  a  "  \Vilmot  proviso"  or  a""  Buf 
falo  platform.';  (A  voice,  "  All  gas.")  Those 
things  and  this  nominee  cannot  be  regular 
in  the  democratic  party,  whose  first  element 
has  ever  been  to  maintain  the  constitution 
pure  and  simple.  Jefferson  and  Madison, 
and  their  compeers,  founded  the  democratic 
party  upon  the  constitutional  law.  (Cheers 
for  Douglas,  with  counte-rcheersforBreckin- 
ridge.)  John  Breckinridge  (the  graadfather 
of  our  Presidential  nominee)  introduced  the 
memorable  resolutions  of '98  to  the  Legisla 
ture  of  Kentucky,  and  the  democratic  party 
proper  has  kept  its  rules  of  regularity  within 
the  compass  of  that  law  and  of  these  resolu 
tions  from  that  time  Co  this.  So  it  must  con 
tinue  for  all  time  to  come.  The  constitution 
is  the  sheet  anchor  of  our  hopes  ;  when  that 
is  gone  all  is  lost.  If,  therefore,  the  Cincin 
nati  platform,  or  any  other  platform,  falls 
short  of,  or  goes  beyond,  the  measure  of  the 
constitution  by  any  misinterpretation  or 
oversight,  it  is  only  necessary  for  us  to  know 
it  to  correct  it.  It  is  upon  this  vital  princi 
ple  (its  infidelity  to  the  supreme  law  of  the 
land)  that  we  oppose  the  ,black  republican 
party.  Can  we  be  less  exacting  with  men 
who  look  for  succor  in  our  own  ranks,  whilst 
their  infidelity,  if  not  so  monstrous  in  its  in 
tentions,  is  equally  glaring  in  fact?  To 
maintain  its  doctrines  the  democratic  party 
has  encountered  many  severe  struggles  with 
its  political  adversaries ;  but,  in  the  end,  it 
has  found  virtue  in  the  masses  equal  to  the 
emergency.  The  contest  now  before  us  may 
be  difficult,  and,  for  a  time,  embarrassing, 
but  we  believe  the  people  will  become  fully 
instructed  upon  the  subject,  and  rise  supe 
rior  to  a  mere  abstraction,  which  it  may  ba 
feared  has  been  attempted  t«  be  engrafted 
upon  the  party  for  sinister  purposes.  Bufi 
I  have  endeavored  to  show  that  a  man  can 
not  be  regular,  in  the  line  of  preferment  in 
the  democratic  party,  whose  doctrines  violate 
the  decrees  of  the  Supreme  Court,  be  he 
nominated  by  what  faction  he  may-  It  were 
better  to  dissolve  the  democratic  party  than 
for  it  to  elect  a  President  wheels  known  to 
be  directly  at  issue  with  the  highest  autho 
rity  known  to  the  law — that  authority  being 
I YTJ/ZOfQfcXEWVT 


3 


as  supreme,  in  its  sphere,  as  is  Congress  in 
it«  lawful  legislation  and  the  executive  in  the 
enforcement   of  the    laws.     (Cheers.)     We 
then,  for  ourselves  and  for  all  the  members 
of  the  democratic  family  who  concur  with  us, 
most  solemnly  protest  against  the  nomina 
tions  of  Mr.  Douglas  and  Mr.  Johnson,  as 
neither  democratic  nor  national.     (Cheers.) 
To  be  regular,  the  candidates  must  be  eligi 
ble  by  the  rules  we  have  laid  down.     In  this 
respect  our  nominees  are  triumphantly  regu 
lar.     They  stand  immovably  upon  the  un 
bounded  precedents   and  principles  of  the 
constitutional  democratic    party,  and  have 
over  stood  there,  and  their  nomination  is  re 
gular  if  accepted  and  ratified  by  the  masses 
of  the  national  democratic  party.     This  con 
firmation  Breckinridge  and  Lane  are  receiv 
ing   daily,   and  will  continue  to  receive  it 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
land.     They  are  already  confirmed  in  the 
hearts  of  the  masses  of  the  conservative  de 
mocracy  of  the  Union.   Any  other  pretended 
ratification   is    simply   conventional    dicta 
tion — the  regularity  of  demagogism — packed 
primarily,,  and   packed    ultimately.     It    is 
anti-democratic,  abusive  of  our  rights,  and 
not  longer  to  be  submitted  to  by  freemen. 
(Cheers.)     Thus  the  Convention  which  was 
formed  by  the  withdrawing  delegates  from 
the  Douglas  Convention,  grew  out  of  the  ne 
cessity  of  the  case.     The  delegates  from  the 
democratic  States,  and  several  from  other 
States,  driven  from  that  Convention  by  its 
factious   and    anti-democratic   proceedings, 
claim  regularity,  because  their  new  Conven 
tion  was  national  in  principle  and  demo 
cratic  in  purpose.     Upon  the  spur  of  the  mo 
ment  more  than  twenty  States  were  repre 
sented  by  full  or   partial  delegations,  and 
Hon.  C.  Gushing,  who  had  abandoned  the 
chair  of  the  Douglas  faction,  was  chosen  to 
preside  over  the  deliberations  of  the  National 
Democratic  Convention.     Some  delegations 
acted  under  instructions  from  their  consti 
tuents — they  certainly  were  regular ;  others 
acted  upon  their  own  convictions  of  right. 
All  acted  upon  the  well  settled  policy  of  our 
party,  to  submit  to  no  nominations  which  are 
not   constitutionally  democratic,  and,  as   I 
h'ave  already  said,  their  course  is  approved 
and  confirmed  in  the  hearts  and  purposes  of 
the  conservative  democracy  of  the  country. 
The  nominations  of  Breckinridge  and  Lane 
were  made  upon  a  pure,  national  democratic 
platform,  embodying  principles  which  "have 
been  settled  legislatively — settled  judicially 
— and  are  sustained  by  right  reason.     They 
rest  upon  the  rock  of  the  constitution — they 
will  preserve  the  Union."    They  are  regular, 
and  we  confirm  them.     (Cheers.)     Of  Mr. 
Breckinridge  it  becomes  us  to  say :  His   an 
cestry  is  of  as  pure  blood  and  as  loyal  to  the 
country  ai  i  its  constitution  as  her  history 
can   trace  for  any  man.     His   scholarship, 


statesmanship,  perfect  fidelity  to  every  trust, 
public  and  private — in  a  word,  every  circum 
stance  of  his  life  and  character,  proclaims 
him  the  man  for  the  country  and  the  times. 
Gen.  Lane  is  no  less  worthy.  (Three  cheers 
for  Lane.)  He  is  a  self-made  man,  honest 
and  capable.  Most  of  his  life  has  been  de 
voted  to  the  public  service,  in  the  legislature 
of  Indiana,  the  camps  of  Mexico,  the  Terri 
torial  government  of  Oregon,  the  delegate 
in  Congress  for  that  Territory,  and  finally 
United  States  Senator  for  the  State.  His 
public  record  is  a  long  one,  free  from  stain 
and  fauftless.  His  character  is  highly  and 
justly  appreciated.  If  the  people  of  the 
country  mean  to  maintain  the  constitution 
and  the  laws,  they  will  elect  Breckinridge 
and  Lane.  We  must  organize  for  that  pur 
pose,  thoroughly  and  perfectly,  in  every  part 
of  the  State  and  nation,  that  we  may  present 
to  the  people  the  nominations  of  faithful  and 
true  men,  worthy  of  their  confidence  and 
support,  for  every  elective  office  in  every  dis 
trict. 

The  following  letters  were  received  from 
President  Buchanan,  and  the  Hon.  Isaac  I. 
Stevens,  of  Washington  Territory,  Chairman 
of  the  Democratic  National  Committee : — 

THE  PRESIDENT'S  LETTER. 

WASHINGTON,  July  17, 1860. 
GENTLEMEN — I  have  received,  through  the 
kindness  of  Isaac  Lawrence,  Esq.,  the  reso 
lutions  adopted  on  the  12th  inst.  by  the  Na 
tional  Volunteers  of  New  York.  In  these 
you  are  pleased  to  say  that  the  speech  de 
livered  by  me  on  the  night  of  the  9th  inst., 
when  serenaded  by  the  ratification  meeting 
of  the  friends  of  Breckinridge  and  Lane  in 
this  city,  is  so  clear,  paternal  and  statesman 
like  a  remonstrance  against  the  spirit  of  dis 
union,  "that  your  association  accept  it  as  an 
expression  of  your  own  views."  For  this 
token  of  your  kindness,  as  well  as  for  the 
expression  of  your  personal  regards  and  in 
dividual  esteem  and*respect,  I  feel  deeply 
grateful.  I  am  one  of  the  last  survivors  of 
a  race  of  men  who  in  their  day  were  the 
faithful  guardians  of  the  constitution  and 
the  Union.  This  sacred  duty  has  now  de 
scended  to  a  new  generation,  and  I  am  hap 
py  to  believe  that  tney  will  prove  themselves 
to  be  worthy  of  the  momentous  trust.  In 
this  view  I  hail  with  sincere  satisfaction  the 
establishment  of  the  National  Volunteers, 
and  cordially  wish  them  prosperity  and  use 
fulness.  May  the  kind  Providence  which 
has  watched  over  our  country  from  the 
beginning,  restore  the  ancient  friendship 
and  harmony  among  the  different  members 
of  the  Confederacy,  and  render  the  consti 
tution  and  Union  perpetual.  Yours,  very 
respectfully.  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


GOVERNOR  STEVENS'  LETTER. 

NATIONAL  DEM.  Ex.  COM.  ROOMS.  WASH-  "I 
INGTON  CITT,  July  17,1860.      j 

I  have  to  express  my  obligations  for  your 
kind  remembrance  of  me,  as  expressed  in 
your  invitation  to  address  the  national  demo 
cracy  of  New  York  City  to-morrow  evening. 

I  regret  that  my  duties  here  will  not  leave 
me  at  liberty  to  be  with  you  in  person.  You 
are  inaugurating  a  great  service  for  your 
State  and  Country.  The  time  has  come 
for  patriots  in  all  portions  of  our  extended 
confederacy  to  stand  together  shoulder  to 
shoulder  in  advocacy  and  defense  of  our 
cherished  constitution.  This  is  especially 
the  diity  of  Northern  men.  Our  constituen 
cies  are  intelligent,  patriotic  and  independ 
ent.  They  require  of  men  upon  whom  they 
confer  public  trusts  to  exercise  not  simply 
the  qualities  of  prudence,  industry  and  fidel 
ity,  but  to  rise  to  a  full  conception  of  the 
great  principles  of  constitutional  liberty  for 
which  our  fathers  fought,  and  which  they 
bequeathed  to  us  as  a  heritage  more  price 
less  than  rubies.  Northern  men  are  called 
upon  to  stand  up  as  an  isthmus  against  the 
spread  of  fanaticism,  and  more  especially 
are  they  called  upon  to  face  clamor  and  con- 
'tumely  in  defense  of  the  equality  of  the 
sovereign  States  of  our  confederacy. 

The  sober  second  thought  of  the  American 
people  is  even  now  working  out  our  deliver 
ance  from  present  troubles.  We  are  stand 
ing  firmly  in  the  advancement  of  truth.  A 
good  Providence  will  not  fail  wisely  to  direct 
us.  Truth,  disinterestedness  and  justice  will 
pursue  their  original  and  triumphant  march, 
whatever  storm  of  opposition,  whatever  for 
midable  array  of  enemies  may  be  in  the  way. 
I  bid  you  good  cheer.  Let  us  not  be  dis 
couraged.  We  are  contending  for  the  con 
stitution  of  our  country,  for  the  equal  rights 
of  every  citizen  of  our  great  republic.  Fight 
on,  fight  ever.  A  great  triumph  awaits  us, 
because  we  are  contending  for  liberty,  jus 
tice  and  truth  on  earth.^ 

ISAAC  I.  STEVENS. 

LETTER  FROM  CHARLES  O'CONOR. 

NEW  YORK,  July  17,  1860. 
GENTLEMEN—Cordially  approving  the  nom 
ination  of  John  C.  Breckinridge  for  Presi 
dent,  and  Joseph  Lano  for  Vice-President  of 
the  United  States,  I  regret  that  it  will  not  be 
in  my  power  to  address  the  ratification 
meeting  appointed  to  be  held  to-morrow 
evening,  at  the  Cooper  Institute. 
^  However  deeply  it  is  to  be  deplored  that 
rival  platforms  and  rival  candidates  are 
presented  to  the  Democratic  party,  threat 
ening  to  divide  its  strength  and  deliver  it 
over  as  an  easy  prey  into  the  hands  of  its 
opponents,  yet,  such  being  unhappily  the 


fact,  the  duty  of  making  a  choice  cannot  be 
avoided. 

The  difference  between  these  platforms, 
like  every  political  question  of  the  times, 
derives  all  its  significance  from  the  subject 
of  negro  slavery.  Its  relations  to  the  terri 
tories  and  to  the  mode  of  governing  them 
is  merely  incidental ;  it  is  merely  the  form 
in  which  this  perpetually-recurring  subject 
is  here  developed  as  an  element  of  strife. 
The  controversy  in  all  its  practical  beaiv 
ings,  is  merely  this : — How  is  negro  slavery 
to  be  dealt  with  ? 

In  its  moral,  political,  legal,  and  economi 
cal  aspects,  my  views  on  that  general  sub 
ject  have  been  so  distinctly  and  so  often 
expressed,  that  my  position  in  reference  to 
the  rival  platforms  now  before  us  could  not 
be  doubtful. 

The  most  fertile  regions  of  the  globe  can 
not  be  so  cultivated  as  fully  to  develop  their 
natural  resources  for  the  benefit  of  mankind 
except  by  negro  labor.  Negro  labor  cannot 
be  there  employed  except  through  the  ju 
dicious  compulsion  of  a  superior  race  ;  and 
in  no  way  can  so  great  a  measure  of  physi 
cal  enjoyment  and  moral  improvement  be 
imparted  to  the  negro  as  by  his  compulsory 
servitude  in  these  very  regions. 

From  these  undeniable  facts,  written  in 
the  great  book  of  nature,  proven  by  expe 
rience,  and  not  without  sanction  from  re 
velation,  my  reason  draws  the  inference  that 
negro  slavery  is  not  repugnant  to  justice — 
is  not  unprofitable  to  the  white  man — is  not 
oppressive  to  the  negro,  and  is  not  inexpe 
dient  as  a  matter  of  social  policy. 

Let  us  apply  these  view  to  our  own  coun 
try.  "  Since  the  foundation  of  this  repub 
lic  negro  slavery  has  ever  been  a  main  pillar 
of  our  strength,  an  indispensable  element 
of  our  growth  and  prosperity.  It  is  now  an 
integral  part  of  our  being  as  a  nation ;  to 
expel  it  by  fraud  or  tear  it  out  by  violence 
would  be  a  national  suicide." 

It  follows  that  "  to  vindicate  its  essential 
justice  and  morality,  in  all  courts  and 
places,  before  men  and  nations,  is  the  duty 
of  every  American  citizen." 

A  moral  war  has  been  made  upon  this  in 
stitution  by  infidels,  and  a  quasi-religious 
crusade  has  been  preached  against  it  by 
another  class.  Hitherto,  at  least  in  the 
North,  no  one  has  defended  it,  and  its  South 
ern  advocates  have  not  been  heard.  The 
natural  results  have  ensued — judgment  ha* 
passed  against  it  by  default,  and  the  idea 
that  it  conflicts  with  natural  justice  and 
with  divine  law  has  taken  possession  of  the 
northern  mind. 

This  state  of  things  afforded  a  most  promis 
ing  quarry  for  the  industry  of  political  par 
ty-makers,  and  they  have  availed  themselves 
of  it.  They  thus  argued : — "'With  the  na 
tional  conscience  on  our  side — with  God  and 


nature  both  on  our  side,  and  against  our  an 
tagonists — surely  \ve  must  win."  Accord 
ingly  this  bright  idea  has  been  industriously 
worked  into  a  political  organization,  and 
here  stands  before  us  at  the  North  the  black 
republican  party,  almost,  if  not  absolutely, 
invincible. 

Why  has  that  party  any  strength  ?  Why 
does  it  now  threaten  to  destroy  harmony 
between  the  North  and  the  South,  leading  to 
disunion  and  to  disasters  deep  and  irreme 
diable  ? 

It  is'svmply  because  the  false  assumption 
of  abolitionists,  that  negro  slavery  is  wicked 
and  unjust,  has  been  permitted  to  pass  un- 
refuted. 

How  is  that  destructive  party  to  be  shorn 
of  its  pernicious  strength  ?  There  is  but  one 
method  by  which  this  object  can  be  effected, 
and  that  is  by  denying  and  disproving  the 
false  position  on  which  it  is  founded. 

We  must,  as  a  party,  insist  unqualifiedly 
that  in  the  institution  of  negro  slavery  there 
is  nothing  whatever  which  calls  for  unfa 
vorable  action  by  government ;  that  the  right 
of  the  white  master  to  the  services  of  his 
negro  slave  is,  in  every  moral  sense,  precise 
ly  the  same  as  his  right  to  any  other  prop 
erty. 

If  this  proposition  be  not  true,  no  honest 
man  ought  to  desire  the  permanency  of  our 
republic";  if  it  be  true,  the  black  republican 
doctrine  is  a  treasonable  and  destructive  fal 
lacy. 

I  am  in  favor  of  the  principles  enunciated 
in  the  Senate  resolutions  of  1860,  and  in  the 
report  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  made 
to  our  National  Convention  at  Charleston, 
because  they  came  up  to  this  point.  They 
meet  the  exigency  before  us  ;  they  fairly  and 
directly  meet  the  issue  as  it  is  understood 
by  all  honest  and  sensible  men  on  either  side. 

I  am  in  favor  of  Breckinridge  and  Lane, 
because  they  stand  upon  a  platform  distinct 
ly  expressing  theSre  principles. 

Mr.  Douglas  declines  practically  to  stand 
up  to  them.  He  blinks  the  main  issue,  and 
seeks  to  ride  into  power,  upon  a  dogma 
which  impliedly  concedes  to  abolitionisms  the 
vital  element  of  its  political  power,  to  wit : 
that  negro  slavery  is  unjust,  or  at  least  has 
in  it  some  element  which,  on  moral  grounds, 
justifies  hostility. 

His  friends  may  deny  this  construction, 
but  to  my  mind  it  is  manifestly  just.  The 
•whole  practical  importance  of  his  popular 
sovereignty  doctrine  is  in  its  bearing  on  the 
slave  question.  No  one  cares  a  fig  about  it 
'except  in  this  single  connection.  In  all  its 
other  bearings  it  is  an  admitted  abstraction, 
unworthy  of  a  moment's  attention,  and  inca 
pable  of  attracting  it. 

Let  any  man  who  doubts  this  rfad  Mr. 
Douglas'  argument  as  published  in  Harper's 
Magazine,  and  his  subsequeri  reply  to  Judge 


Black  in  defense^  of  that  article.  Slavery 
is  the  staple  of  >his  whole  argument.  The 
phrases  and  postulates  of  the  anti-slavery 
agitators  are  invoked  by  him  at  every  point 
in  the  discussion,  and  most  liberally  used  to 
sustain  his  views. 

Thus,  to  all  practical  purposes,  Mr.  Doug 
las  presents  himself  as  a  semi-abolitionist. 
His  platform  tends  to  keep  abolitionism 
alive,  as  a  power  in  the  State,  for  future 
mischief.  The  platform  of  Breckinridge 
and  Lane  assails  the  hydra  in  front,  and 
aims  to  slay  it  outright. 

Whilst  I  am  thus  with  you  in  sentiment, 
and  to  the  extent  of  my  humble  powers  am 
ready  to  aid  in  your  object,  I  cannot  lose 
sight  of  the  policy  which  requires  A  thorough 
union  of  all  New  Yorkers  who  are  opposed 
to  the  election  of  Lincoln.  Concurring  with 
that  eminent  and  patriotic  citizen  of  Penn 
sylvania,  William  B.  Reed,  "  I  believe  that 
there  are  three  candidates  for  the  Presiden 
cy  preferable  to  the  one  whom  every  aboli 
tionist  or  anti-slavery  agitator  in  the  land 
supports."  CH.  O'CONOR. 

.- 

SPEECH   OF   DANIEL  S.   DICKINSON. 

After  the  applause  had  subsided,  Mr. 
DICKINSON  proceeded  to  address  the  meeting. 
He  said : — 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  MY  FELLOW  CITIZENS  : 
Ever-fleeting  time  has  brought  us  upon  an 
other  period  prescribed  by  the  constitution 
for  the  election  of  Chief  Magistrate  of  this 
great  confederacy— a  popular  struggle  known 
to  no  people  under  heaven  but  ourselves,  and 
exceeding  in  interest  and  importance  any 
thing  known  in  the  history  of  governments 
amongst  men,  civilized  or  savage. 

THE    DEMOCRATIC    PARTY. 

Upon  preceding,  similar  occasions,  gen 
erally,  it  has  been  the  good  fortune  of  that 
great  party  to  which  you  and  I  belong 
(cheers) ,  of  that  party  which  has  swayed 
the  destinies  of  the  country  and  shaped  its 
policy  from  the  days  of  Jefferson  to  the 
present  moment,  to  stand  united  in  principle 
and  purpose  and  movement,  like  a  Roman 
Cohort  in  the  best  period  of  the  mistress  of 
the  world.  With  such  purposes,  such  princi 
ples,  such  united  energies,  and  such  harmo 
nious  action,  the  democratic  party  deserved 
and  won  the  highest  confidence  and  grati 
tude  of  the  toiling  masses — it  bore  aloft  on 
its  banner  the  sacred  word  equality — it 
plucked  hoary-headed  privilege  by  the  beard, 
and  arraigned  error  and  pretension  before 
the  great  tribunal  of  the  people — it  was  radi 
cal  in  the  reformation  of  abuses — it  was  con 
servative  in  the  preservation  of  all  that  expe 
rience  had  approved — the  constitution  was 
its  pillar  and  its  cloud,  and  progress  wa3  its 
watchword.  (Loud  cheers.)  Under,  its 
benign  policy  our  borders  extended  from  the 


6 


Atlantic  to  the  Pacific — W€  subdued  and  fer 
tilized  new  territories — we  civilized,  educa 
ted  and  absorbed  their  barbarous  or  semi- 
barbarous  races,  and  nearly  trebled  the 
number  of  free  sovereign  States  (Cheers.) 
Overshadowing,  monopolizing,  unconstitu 
tional  federal  banks  and  protective  tariffs, 
those  devices  of  craft  and  fraud,  that  they 
might  subsist  upon  the  fruits  of  others'  la 
bor,  have,  after  years  of  conflict  with  the  de 
mocracy,  finally  been  driven  from  the  field 
and  exterminated,  and  the  only  great  work 
left  them  in  the  present  crisis  is  to  vindicate 
the  supremacy  of  the  constitution  and  the 
equality  of  the  States.  Its  present  admin 
istration  by  a  wise  and  foreseeing  foreign 
and  domestic  policy  was  quietly  advancing 
the  great  interest  of  the  country  in  spite  of 
the  efforts  of  foes  without  and  foes  within, 
and  democracy  was  in  the  zenith  of  its  tri 
umphs.  (Cheers).  If  to-day  that  great 
conservative  party  of  the  people  and  the 
constitution,  the  country's  safety  and  the  pa 
triot's  hope,  is  crippled  and  divided — if  its 
power  is  weakened,  its  forces  scattered,  its 
energies  weighed  down,  and  there  are  fore 
bodings  that  its  proud  banner  may  fall  trail 
ing  in  the  dust — let  it  be  remembered  that 
it  is  not  the  fault  of  the  party  or  its  princi 
ples,  or  of  its  masses,  that  it  is  thus-  degra 
ded,  but  that  it  is  because  in  an  evil  mo 
ment  its  management  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  selfish,  corrupt  and  venal,  who  have  be 
trayed  the  trusts  half  gained  by  stealth,  half 
confided  to  them,  and  because  in  attempting 
to  use  its  power  to  advance  personal  ends 
only,  they  have  destro}Ted  its  organization, 
divided  it  into  sections,  and  brought  them 
into  conflict  with  ea»h  other,  instead  of  con- 
eentratirig  all  its  forces  upon  the  enemies  of 
the  constitution.  (Loud  cheers.) 

THE    REPUBLICAN   PARTY. 

This  organization,  with  many  elements  of 
personal  cleverness,  bodes  evil  to  the  best 
interests  of  true  freedom  and  humanity.  It 
is  founded  in  sectional  disturbance,  its  ali 
ment  is  prejudice  and  passion,  its  efforts 
calculated  to  array  State  against  State,  sec 
tion  against  section,  man  against  man,  bro 
ther  against  brother — to  destroy  all  kindly 
relations  and  light  up  the  fires  of  sectional 
discord  and  strife,  to  end  in  battles  of  blood. 
Though  its  managers  threw  overboard  its 
:;reat  founder  and  leader,  Governor  Seward, 
because  he  had  too  plainly  declared  its  prin- 
•iples,  hoping  thereby  to  conceal  its  danger- 
•us  tendencies,  its  true  theories  are  belched 
)y  the  Sumners  and  the  Cheevers,  and  are 
reduced  to  practice  by  its  John  Browns. 
(Great  cheers.)  It  disturbs  and  embitters 
the  social  relations — it  severs  the  holy  ties 
of  religious  brotherhood — it  breaks  the  bonds 
of  a  common  political  faith — it  blots  out  the 
greit  memories  of  the  Revolution — it  de 


stroys  commercial  interests  and  the  inter 
changes  of  free  trade — it  degrades  us  as  a 
nation  before  the  envious  monarchs  of  earth, 
and  deprives  us  of  our  inherent  power  to 
vindicate  our  rights.  It  sows  broadcast  the 
terrible  seeds  of  domestic  strife  and  passion, 
that  the  people  may  reap  in  due  season  a 
harvest  of  ashes  and  desolation. 

THE      DEMOCRATIC      NATIONAL     CONVENTION 

PUBLIC    EXPECTATION. 

There  was  never  a  moment  in  the  history 
of  the  democratic  party,  or  a  time  when  the 
masses  of  the  people  looked  to  the  sitting 
of  a  national  convention  with  more  confiding 
expectation,  than  when  it  was  about  to  as 
semble  at  Charleston  in  April  last.  There 
was  never  a  time  when  such  confidence  was 
more  wickedly,  wantonly,  and  shamefully 
betrayed  —  when  reasonable  expectations 
were  so  madly  blasted,  as  in  the  results  pro 
duced  by  its  action.  Its  proceedings  find 
no  parallel  in  disgrace  and  degradation 
since  the  empire  of  the  New  World  was  sold 
at  auction  for  money. 

The  democratic  party,  for  its  steady  devo 
tion  to  the  principles  of  the  Constitution, 
the  catholicity  of  its  creeds,  for  its  grand 
radical  analysis  and  its  just  and  lofty  con 
servatism,  had  won  the  confidence  of  the 
masses,  and  wrung  unwilling  admiration 
from  its  hereditary  opponents,  and  all  good 
men  looked  to  it  in  this,  the  evil  day  of  our 
country,  for  deliverance  and  safety.  Its 
convention  assembled  at  Charleston,  and  or 
ganized  for  business.  A  holy  man,  arrayed 
in  the  robes  of  his  sacred  office,  with  raised 
hands  and  fervent  supplication,  invokes  the 
favor  of  the  Beneficent  Being  who  has  vouch 
safed  to  us,  as  a  people,  so  many  blessings. 
The  whisper  of  beauty  is  hushed  in  the  gal 
leries — the  aged  bow  their  gray  hairs  in 
sympathetic  and  deep  devotion — levity  is 
humbled  in  silence,  and  even  lurking  fraud 
is  abashed,  and  cowers  for  a  hiding-place. 
But  the  prayer  is  over,  and  a  band  of  con 
spirators  take  possession  of  the  assemblage, 
and,  instead  of  a  National  Convention,  a 
great  huckstering  bazaar  is  erected— a  po 
litical  trade-sales  is  opened — management 
inaugurates  her  slimy  and  repulsive  court, 
and  the  office  of  Chief  Magistrate  of  this' 
mighty  republic  is  put  up  like  the  board  of 
a  public  pauper,  at  the  lowest  bidder.  Ita 
proceedings  bear  evidence  of  deliberate  and 
long  cherished  design,  of  a  combination  and 
conspiracy  to  tie  up  minorities  against  them, 
and  leave  those  free  who  were  for  them,  and 
thus  attain,  by  fraud  or  force,  a  particular 
result,  regardless  of  popular  sentiment  or  of 
consequences  which  might  follow.  The 
ruling  faction  had  snuffed  up  the  scent  of 
four  hundred  millions  of  spoil,  and  for  them 
the  administration  of  Douglas  was  expected 
to  rain  milk  and  honey,  snow-powdered 


eugur,  and  hail  Moffat's  Vegetable  Life 
Pills.  (Laughter.)  Under  nearly  two  weeks 
of  this  application  of  the  forcing  process, 
the  Convention  proved  unequal  to  the  emer 
gency,  and  paused  for  breath — a  portion  of 
the  delegations  withdrew,  arid  the  residue 
adjourned  to  Baltimore  for  a  period  of  some 
six  weeks,  for  ventilation.  The  public  had 
reason  to  hope  that,  separated  from  the  in 
fluences  which  surrounded  them,  and  no 
longer  breathing  the  contagions  they  engen 
dered,  but  inhaling  a  healthy  moral  atmos 
phere,  they  might  return  and  discharge  the 
duty  which  they  had  undertaken.  But  ab 
stinence  only  edged  their  appetites,  and 
their  last  state  was  worse  than  the  first. 
(A  voice — "  That's  so.")  The  same  drilled, 
packed,  machine  majority  met  again,  com 
posed  of  delegates  from  a  portion  of  States, 
and  assumed  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  the 
rights  of  regular  delegates  from  another 
portion — to  punish  them  for  some  noncon 
formity  to  the  majority  standard  or  other 
delinquency — in  short,  to  deny  to  sovereign 
democratic  States  the  right  to  return  to  their 
seats  at  Baltimore,  because  they  did  not  oc 
cupy  them  for  the  whole  period  of  the  pro 
tracted  sitting  at  Charleston — a  question  be 
longing  entirely  to  the  constituency  of  these 
delegations  alone,  and  with  which  the  Na 
tional  Convention  had  no  business  whatso 
ever.  And  not  only  were  these  delegations 
expelled  under  such  pretensions,  but  bogus 
delegations,  made  up  to  suit  the  convenience 
and  necessity  of  the  occasion,  were  put  in 
their  places.  (Hisses  and  cheers.)  A  de 
cision  so  abhorrent  to  every  principle  of 
common  fairness — so  replete  with  outrage 
and  usurpation,  divided,  dismembered,  and 
broke  up  the  Convention,  as  it  should  have 
done,  and  as  every  sensible  mind  saw  it 
would  do;  and  I  commend  with  my  whole 
heart  the  spirit,  and  approve  the  conduct  of 
the  President,  General  Gushing,  who  refused 
longer  to  preside  over  the  tyrannous  cabal,  and 
of  the  delegations  who,  under  the  same  Presi 
dent,  reorganized  and  placed  in  nomination 
Messrs.  Breckinridge  and  Lane.  The  re 
maining  fraction,  made  up  chiefly  of  dele 
gates  from  republican  States,  whose  delega 
tions  were  the  authors  of  the  great  wrong, 
deprived  of  their  head  and  without  a  demo 
cratic  body,  proceeded  to  nominate  Messrs. 
Douglas  and  Fitzpatrick,  as  we  were  in 
formed,  amidst  tremendous  enthusiasm  — 
Vermont  and  other  New  England  States, 
and  the  whole  Northwest,  were  pledged  to 
Mr.  Douglas  (subject  of  course  to  a  slight 
incumbrauce,  held  by  one  Abraham  Lin 
coln)  with  deafening  applause.  Some  flat- 
boatmen  descending  the  Mississippi,  in 
rather  a  jolly  mood,  passed  a  house  on  the 
shore  where  they  were  fiddling  and  dancing 
on  the  piazza — the  boat  fell  into  an  eddy 
and  once  in  each  half  hour  passed  the  house 


again,  and  the  boatmen  swore  they  were 
fiddling  and  dancing  in  every  house  for  a 
hundred  miles  on  the  shore  of  the  river — 
while  they  had  been  revolving  in  an  eddy 
and  had  seen  but  one.  The  Douglas  strength 
is  estimated  in  the  same  way. 

CAUSES    OF    DISRUPTION* — TUB    AUTHORS    OF  IT. 

Waiving  all  questions  of  the  merits  or  de 
merits  of  Mr.  Douglas  as  a  candidate,  his 
pretensions  were  pressed  upon  the  Conven 
tion,  sometimes  under  the  pretence  of  a  plat 
form  upon  which  he  could  stand  with  con 
venience,  sometimes  in  the  admission  and 
rejection  of  delegates  by  the  process  of  ma 
chinery  and  management,  and  at  other 
times  in  the  direct  presentation  of  his  name, 
beyond  all  precedence  or  bounds  of  courtesy 
or  reason,  in  a  mannei^and  in  a  spirit  and 
with  a  feeling  which  spoke  defiance  to  near 
ly  one  half  of  the  States  of  the  confederacy, 
when  it  was  well  known  they  would  not  ac 
quiesce  in  his  nomination,  that  they  would 
not  support  him  if  nominated,  and  that  he 
could  not  be  elected  without  their  votes ; 
pressed,  too,  in  a  tone  and  temper,  and  with 
a  dogged  and  obstinate  persistence  which 
was  well  calculated,  if  it  was  not  intended, 
to  break  up  the  Convention  or  force  it  into 
obedience  to  the  behests  of  a  combination. 
(Cheers.)  The  authors  of  this  outrage, 
whom  we  should  hold  accountable,  and  who 
are  justly  and  directly  chargeable  with  it, 
were  the  ruling  majority  of  the  New  York 
delegation.  They  held  the  balance  of  pow 
er,  and  madly  and  selfishly  and  corruptly 
used  it  for  the  disruption  of  the  democratic 
party,  in  endeavoring  to  force  it  up  to  a 
fixed  point  to  subserve  their  infamous 
schemes.  They  were  there  charged  with 
high  responsibilities  by  a  patriotic  and  con 
fiding  constituency — in  a  crisis  of  unusual 
interest  in  the  history  of  the  party  and  the 
country — they,  in  an  evil  moment,  held  in 
their  leprous  hands  the  destinies  of  a  noblo 
party  and  of  this  great  country — they  pro 
fessed  to  be  governed  by  honorable  consid 
erations  and  to  desire  the  unity  and  har 
mony  and  success  of  the  democracy. 
[Cheers.]  They  proclaimed,  personally  and 
through  their  accredited  organs,  that  in 
their  view  the  Southern  States  were  en 
titled  to  name  a  candidate,  and  declared 
that  it  would  be  their  first  policy  to  second 
such  suggestions  as  were  made  in  that 
quarter,  and  support  such  candidate  as 
should  be  named  by,  or  be  most  acceptable 
to,  the  South ;  and  with  such  professions 
and  false  pretenses  on  their  lips,  they  went 
to  Charleston.  But  from  the  moment  they 
entered  the  Convention  at  Charleston,  until 
it  was  finally  broken  up  by  their  base  con 
duct  and  worse  faith  at  Baltimore — conduct 
which  secured  them  the  designation  of  po 
litical  gamblers  upon  the  floor  cf  the  Con- 


8 


vention,  their  e\ery  act  was  to  oppose  the 
•wishes  and  resist  each,  any,  and  every 
candidate  who  would  be  acceptable  to  the 
Southern  States  ;  and  their  every  effort,  in 
season  and  out  of  season,  by  night  and  by 
day,  was  to  force  upon  the  Southern  States 
a  candidate  whose  creed  they  repudiated 
and  condemned ,  a  candidate  they  had  de 
clared,  in  the  most  solemn  form  and  with 
repeated  asseverations,  they  could  not  and 
would  not  support ;  a  candidate  who  was  at 
open  war  with  the  democratic  administra 
tion,  who  had  but  a  single  supporter  in  the 
democratic  Senate,  and  whose  especial  ad 
herents  had  just  aided  the  republicans  in 
the  election  of  a  Speaker  and  Clerk  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  two  of  the  most 
influential  and  commanding  positions  in  the 
Government.  (Cheers.)  Those  who  ruled, 
and  dictated  to,  and  wielded  the  vote  of  the 
New  York  delegation,  through  the  fraudu 
lent  process  of  a  unit  vote.— a  rule  forced 
upon  a  large  minority  of  this  delegation  to 
stifle  their  sentiments,  while  small  minori 
ties  were  released  from  it  in  others  to  suit 
the  purposes  of  the  conspirators — will  here 
after  be  known  by  the  name  plainly  branded 
'wpon  their  guilty  foreheads  at  Charleston— 
"political  gamblers" — as  creatures  who 
hang  festering  upon  the  lobbies  of  State  and 
federal  legislation  to  purchase  chartered 
privilege  and  immunity  by  corrupt  appli 
ances  ;  who  thrive  in  its  fcctid  atmosphere, 
and  swell  to  obese  proportions,  like  vultures 
upon  offal;  office  brokers,  who  crawl  and 
cringe  around  the  footsteps  of  power,  and 
by  false  pretenses  procure  themselves  or 
vile  tools  places  of  official  trust  and  emolu 
ment,  that  they  may  pack  and  control  cau 
cuses  and  conventions  at  the  expense  of  the 
people  they  defraud  and  betray,  while  hon 
est  men  are  engaged  in  the^ir  industrial 
avocations  to  earn  their  bread.  (Loud 
cheers,  and  a  voice,  "  Go  it,  old  man.") 
Oh,  how  has  the  once  noble  spirit  of  the 
democracy  fled  from  such  contaminating 
approaches!  Rome,  whose  proud  banner 
once  waved  triumphant  over  a  conquered 
world,  degenerated,  in  the  pursuit  of  sensual 
delights,  to  a  band  of  fiddlers  and  dancers, 
and  the  democratic  party  of  New  York, 
founded  in  the  spirit  of  Jefferson,  and  emu 
lating,  for  many  years,  the  noble  efforts  of  a 
Jackson  and  a  Tompkins,  has,  in  the  hands 
of  "  political  gamblers/' been  degraded  by 
practices  which  would  dishonor  the  resorts 
of  a  Peter  Funk  in  cast-off  clothing  ;  cheating 
the  sentiment  of  the  people  of  the  State  and 
nation ;  cheating  a  great  and  confiding 
party,  whose  principles  they  put  on  as  a  dis 
guise,  for  the  purposes  of  enabling  them  to 
cheat ;  cheating  the  Convention  which  ad 
mitted  them  to  seats  ;  cheating  delegations 
who  trusted  them  ;  cheating  everybody  and 
everything  with  which  they  came  in  con 


tact,  except  Mr.  Douglas,  their  nominee,, 
and  then  lamenting,  through  their  accredit 
ed  organ,  from  day  to  day,  that  the  Conven 
tion  had  not  remained  together  BO  that  they 
might  finally  have  cheated  him.  They  have 
overthrown  the  democratic  masses,  but 
"Wo  to  the  riders  that  trampled  them 
down."  Political  gamblers !  you  have 
breathed  your  contagion  throughout  the 
democratic  citadel,  and  profaned  and  pol 
luted  its  very  walls.  You  have  defiled  its 
holy  places  by  your  corrupting  presence  ; 
unclean  beasts  fold  in  the  area  of  its  tem 
ples,  and  filthy  reptiles  have  inhabited  the 
sanctuary  of  its  gods.  Its  towering  eagle 
of  liberty  has  fled  for  a  brief  season,  and 
foul  ravens  croak  for  prey  and  whet  their 
bloody  beaks  and  dirty  talons  upon  its 
sacred  altars.  Political  gamblers !  you  have 
perpetrated  your  last  cheat — consummated 
your  last  fraud  upon  the  democratic  party, 
for  you  will  never  again  be  trusted.  Hence 
forth  you  will  be  held  and  treated  as  politi 
cal  outlaws,  and  set  at  defiance.  There  is 
no  fox  so  crafty  but  his  hide  finally  goes  to 
the  hatters.  You  will  hang  upon  its  skirts 
to  regain  power,  and  lie  in  ambush  for  re 
venge,  but  as  an  open  enemy  you  are  pow 
erless,  and  are  only  dangerous  to  those  who 
trust  you.  With  parties,  and  especially 
cliques,  who  betray  trusts  and  abuse  power, 
as  with  individuals,  there  is  a  day  of  reck 
oning  and  retribution,  and  yours  is  at  hand, 

For  time  at  last  sets  all  things  even, 

And  if  we  do  but  watch  the  hour, 

There  never  yet  was  human  power 

Who  could  evade,  if  unforgiven, 

The  patient  search  and  vigil  long 

Of  him  who  treasures  up  a  wrong. — (Cheers.) 

NEW     YORK    DIVISIONS THE    UNION    AT    SYRA 
CUSE — ITS    FRUITS     DESTROYED,     ETC. 

The  defection  of  a  wing  of  the  democratic 
party  in  1847,  under  cover  of  advocating 
"free  soil"  principles,  defeated  General  Cass 
in  1848,  and  prostrated  the  power  of  the 
democratic  party  in  the  State  and  nation. 
While  its  sections  were  yet  standing,  or  pro 
fessing  to  stand,  on  principles  or  doctrines 
in  direct  antagonism  to  each  other,  there 
were  those  who  advocated  a  coalition  of  sec 
tions  and  a  division  of  spoils,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  securing  patronage  and  of  "beat 
ing  the  whigs."  Regarding  it  as  most 
shamefully  demoralizing,  I  resisted  it  with 
all  the  force  I  could  summon,  and  all  the 
arguments  I  could  command  ;  but  the  ne-  • 
cessities  of  office-seeking  patriotism  were 
too  strong  for  me,  and  under  the  ministra 
tions  of  some  who  had  received  a  taste  of 
official  favor,  and  were  willing  to  barter 
principles  for  place,  and  the  acquiescence  of 
good-natured  weakness,  the  foul  scheme  was 
consummated — individuals  obtained  place, 
and  the  moral  foundations  of  the  party  were 


shaken.  From  that  day  to  the  present,  ele 
ments  theretofore  unknown  arid  unheard  of 
in  the  history  of  the  party  became  rife, 
wielded  by  "  political  gamblers."  Since 
then,  caucuses  have  been  run  by  contract, 
conventions  have  been  packed,  and  the  man 
agement  of  the  party  machinery  has  been 
assigned  to  its  chief  and  assistant  engineers, 
with  as  much  precision  and  regard  to  minu- 
tiae  as  the  running  of  railroad  trains.  When 
a  corps  of  hands  were  wanted  to  falsify  do 
mestic  history  at  Washington,  and  calum 
niate  faithful  democrats  and  honest  men, 
they  were  in  motion  with  all  the  alacrity  of 
police  detectives  who  start  to  arrest  and 
punish,  not  perpetrate  fraud.  In  short,  they 
usually  keep  stationed  there  a  drill-sergeant 
and  a  file  of  men,  to  serve  in  emergencies. 
When  an  office  was  vacant, -or  a  job  of  de 
pleting  the  treasury  was  in  the  market,  they 
snuffed  up  the  spoil  with  that  keen  instinct 
given  to  all  birds  of  evil  omen,  and  demand 
ed  it  as  their  lawful  booty.  They  were 
"  political  gamblers"  by  trade,  and  pursued 
their  avocation  with  appropriate  and  shame 
less  desperation.  Administrations  which 
have  known,  or  ought  to  have  known,  their 
bleared  and  blackened  history,  which  knew, 
or  should  have  know n,  their  occupation,  and 
should  have  shunned  them  as  they  would  a 
contact  with  the  plague,  though,  at  first, 
regarding  this  clique  as  tfi'st 

A  monster  of  such  frightful  mien, 

That  to  bo  hated  needs  but  to  be  seen.  (Cheers,) 

have  usually  realized  the  humiliating  illus 
tration  of  the  poet  and 

losing  once  familiar  with  its  face, 
First  see,  then  pity,  then  embrace. 

Hereafter,  when  democrats  or  others  abroad 
fail  to  understand  what  they  term  the  tan 
gled  web  of  New  York  politics,  let  them  un 
derstand  that  nine-tenths  of  the  "  tangled 
web"  and  embarrassment  to  the  democratic 
party  has  arisen  from  abroad,  because  this 
same  clique  of  "  political  gamblers,"  who 
make  politics  a  business,  have  been  enabled 
to  fasten  their  fangs  upon  the  party  organi 
sations  at  home,  from  being  recognized  and 
clothed  with  pdwer,  and  place,  and  patron 
age  abroad  ;  and  that  they  have  been  recog 
nized  and  rewarded  abroad,  for  the  alleged 
reason  that  they  had  power  and  position  at 
home  ;  which  power  and  position  they  gain 
by  the  very  patronage  placed  in  their  hands 
by  those  having  its  dispensation.  This  en 
ables  them  to  drive  a  profitable  trade  in  po 
litical  affairs,  when  true  democrats  are  pros 
ecuting  their  ordinary  pursuits,  and  looking 
to  popular  sentiment  to  direct  political  af 
fairs.  This  clique,  and  its  accomplices  and 
sympathizers,  professed  free  soil  doctrines 
nntil  they  were  universally  repudiated  and 
condemned  by  the  democratic  party  every 


where,  and  then,  without  the  least  inconve 
nience,  professed  the  doctrines  of  the  demo 
cratic  party  with  equal  zeal,  and,  probably, 
about  equal  sincerity.  Though  I  opposed 
their  recognition  as  democrats  by  the  party 
so  long  as  they  refused  to  stand  upon  its 
platform,  yet  they  were  bargained  in,  and  I 
could  do  so  no  longer  when  they  professed 
and  acknowledged  its  whole  creed,  and 
swore  allegiance  again  to  its  principles. 
Many  of  the  old  free  soil  wing,  I  cheerfully 
admit,  have  proved  to  be  among  the  most 
reliable  and  faithful  members  of  the  party. 
But  I  have  looked  upon  all  the  movements 
of  the  particular  clique  of  whom  I  speak 
with  distrust,  and  would  gladly  have  seen 
them  perform  quarantine  before  landing. 
But  they  had  sapped  and  mined  the  founda 
tion  of  the  democratic  edifice  so  long  that 
they  knew  its  weak  points,  and  having  per 
fected  their  machinery  accordingly,  they 
were  enabled  to  influence  its  movements, 
and  to  rule  or  ruin  in  party  affairs,  generally 
doing  the  last  when  they  failed  to  accom 
plish  the  first.  Thus  they  became  formida 
ble,  and  thus  did  a  great  and  generous  party 
yield  to  their  impious  demands  from  time  to 
time,  rather  than  to  see  their  treacherous 
arms  turned  against  the  democratic  encamp 
ment,  while  its  hosts  were  engaged  in  a 
great  periodical  battle  with  its  open  ene 
mies.  As  the  great  conflict  of  1860  ap 
proached,  it  was  obvious  that  New  York 
must  be  the  battle  ground  over  the  consti 
tution,  and  bear  a  conspicuous  part  in  th% 
mighty  struggle,  if,  indeed,  her  potential  act 
did  not  decide  it  for  good  or  for  evil.  In 
view  of  this,  I  early  determined  to  counte 
nance  no  divisions  in  the  ranks,  for  any 
purposes  under  any  circumstances.  I  knew 
that  divisions,  no  matter  how  arising, 
would  produce  certain  and  inevitable  de 
feat.  I  knew  this  clique  of  politicians  had 
abated  not  one  jot  or  tittle  of  their  rule-or- 
ruin  policy.  I  knew  it  was  loud  in  its  pro 
fessions  of  harmony,  for  foreign  consump 
tion,  and  to  gull  the  masses,  and  I  deter 
mined  to  take  it  at  its  word — (cheer?) — to 
discountenance  all  divisions  ;  to  obtain  as 
fair  a  selection  of  delegates  to  the  National 
Convention  as  possible,  and  to  make  a  last 
final  experimental  effort  for  union  for  the 
sake  of  the  Union.  Events  at  Syracuse, 
whither  I  went  to  promote  reconciliations 
and  prevent  disruptions,  gave  my  voice  a  po 
tential  influence.  I  exerted  it  to  bring  all 
elements  into  one  organization,  which  should 
represent  the  Empire  State,  and  though  the 
effort  was  censured  by  some  and  resisted  by 
others,  and  criticised  by  mole-eyed  vision,  it 
was  substantially  successful.  I  appealed 
to  the  masses  throughout  the  State  in  popu 
lar  addresses,  and  the  democracy  responded 
by  electing  the  most  important  portion  of  .the 
ticket  placed  in  nomination.  But  a  single 


10 


delegated  representation  was  recognized  at 
Charleston,  and  if  that  delegation  had  dis 
charged,  nay,  if  it  had  not  grossly  violated 
its  duty,  the  State  of  New  York  in  this  great 
contest  would  have  been  the  surest  State  in 
the  Union  for  the  democratic  nominees. 
When  the  Syracuse  Convention  of  1859  ap 
proached,  I  could  have  remained  at  home 
and  permitted  a  division,  which  I  saw  was 
almost  certain  ;  the  division  would  have 
eome,  New  York  would  have  been  prostrate, 
and  I  and  my  friends  should  have  been 
charged  with  producing  it,  and  good-natured 
credulity  abroad  would  have  believed  the  as 
severations  of  those  whose  vocation  it  is  to 
verify  such  falsehood.  I  could  have  joined 
others,  and  have  ministered  to  the  just  but 
profitless  revenges  of  true  and  faithful  men 
for  a  long  catalogue  of  wrongs  ;  but  I  pre 
ferred  to  look  forward  for  the  benefit  of  all 
rather  than  backwards  to  gratify  the  just 
resentments  of  the  few.  (Cheers.)  I  could 
have  seconded  others  in  some  Quixotic  ex 
pedition  to  attain  results,  to  minister  to  far 
fetched  individual  hopes  ;  but  each  of  these 
would  have  left  New  York  powerless  for 
good,  and  old-line  democrats  seemingly  re 
sponsible,  and  I  determined  to  give  those 
who  had  power  to  rule  or  ruin,  and  a  deter 
mination  suited  to  the  occasion,  undisputed 
power  to  rule,  after  associating  with  them 
all  the  good  influence  I  could  command. 
They  professed  to  desire  harmony,  unity  and 
conciliation.  I  prnposed  to  take  them  at 
Iheir  word,  without  saying  how  much  or 
how  little  faith  I  had  in  their  professions.  I 
saw  they  would  have  the  power.  I  deter 
mined  they  should  have,  so  far  as  I  could 
control  it,  the  responsibility  also.  I  knew 
that  if  they  fairly  and  faithfully  represented 
the  State,  they  would  merit  and  receive  the 
commendation  of.  all  good  democrats,  and 
that  the  party  would  be  compensated  in  the 
results  which  would  follow.  I  knew  if,  by 
treacherous  schemes  and  gambling  resorts, 
they  betrayed  their  trust,  and  repeated  the 
cheats  abroad  which  they  practiced  at  home, 
they  would  expose  to  the  world  their  own 
perfidious  natures  and  destroy  themselves 
forever,  and  defeat  their  further  power  for 
mischief  at  home  and  abroad  ;  and  that  the 
democratic  party  of  New  York  could  afford 
unbounded  compensation  for  a  consumma 
tion  so  devoutly  to  be  wished.  In  short,  I  saw 
they  would  have  the  power.  I  meant  they 
should  have  the  responsibility  with  it,  and 
they  had  both.  The  power  they  might  have 
exercised  so  as  to  have  given  life,  health  and 
joy,  and  unquestioned  success  to  the  demo 
cratic  party  of  the  State  and  nation.  But 
they  chose  to  exercise  it  in  an  opposite  di 
rection,  and  now  let  them  prepare  for  the 
responsibility  which  they  cannot  escape. 
They  have,  that  they  might  advance  the 
selfish  purposes  of  a  corrupt  clique,  with 


malice  aforethought,  wickedly  and  wanton 
ly  committed  the  crime — let  them  stand  up 
in  the  world's  pillory  and  suffer  the  penalty 
due  to  falsehood,  treachery,  ingratitude  and 
baseness.  (Cheers.)  When  I  threw  my 
whole  soul  into  an  effort  to  unite  the  demo 
cratic  party  of  this  State,  I  determined,  if 
it  was  finally  unsuccessful,  because  of  .the 
bad  conduct  of  this  trading  combination} 
that  I  would  never  again  make  an  effort  to 
unite  the  party  with  such  material  in  it. 
That  effort  at  union  would  have  been  crown 
ed  with  complete  success  but  for  them,  for 
the  ranks  of  the  party  had  closed  up,  and 
the  masses  hailed  a  deliverance  from  inter 
nal  division  and  strife,  as  a  proud  day  in 
their  country's  history.  But  they  have  torn 
open  again  its  wounds  to  subserve  their  own 
selfish  schemes,  and  now  let  division  be  the 
order  of  the  day  until  these  faithless  "  poli 
tical  gamblers"  are  driven  without  the  pale 
of  the  democratic  party  forever.  So  totally 
abhorred  as  they  are,  we  shall  sooner  at 
tain  success  without  than  with  them,  and 
we  have  proved  now,  to  the  satisfaction  of 
all,  how  vain  the  attempt  for  a  party  to  re 
pose  upon  such  rotten  foundations,  and  here 
after  their  power  will  not  be  courted,  nor 
their  necessities  rewarded  by  democratic  ad 
ministrations.  No,  I  shall  hereafter  make 
no  effort  for  union  where  they  are  to  be  re 
cognized,  but  w.tr  upon  any  faction  under  « 
their  treacherous  rule,  and  nothing  but  fac 
tion  will  follow  their  lead. 

Twice  have  I  sought  clan  Alpine's  glen, 

In  peace,  but  when  I  come  again, 

I  come  with  banner,  brand  and  bow, 

As  leader  seeks  bis  mortal  foe. — (Loud  Cheers.) 

NON-INTERVENTION SQUATTER    SOVEREIGNTY. 

Much  has  been  said  upon  the  subjects  of 
non-intervention  and  squatter  sovereignty, 
as  it  is  termed,  and  there  has  been  much 
more  said  upon  them  than  has  been  under 
stood  by  those  who  have  said  it.  And  it 
would  be  well  for  the  political  magpies  who 
chatter  so  flippantly  upon  the  subject,  to 
learn  their  lesson  before  they  prate  it. 
("  That's  true,"  and  cheers.)  The  two  prin 
ciples,  which  really  have  no  relation  to  each 
other  and  are  entirely  different,  have  been 
strangely  and  unpardonably  confounded  ; 
but  I  will  state  the  true  definitions  of  each 
separately.  Non-intervention  means  that 
there  should  be  no  intervention  to  extend  or 
prohibit  slavery  in  the  Territories,  but  that 
the  people  of  the  States  and  the  Territories 
should  be  left,  while  a  Territory,  to  enjoy 
just  such  rights  as  to  carrying  their  slaves 
with  them  when  removing  into  the  Territo 
ries,  or  exclusion  therefrom,  as  it  should 
be  held  by  the  courts  belonged  to  them. 
Squatter  sovereignty  claims  the  sovereign 
right  of  the  people  of  a  Territory  to  exclude 
the  introduction  of  slavery  from  the  Territory 


11 


by  hostile  Territorial  legislation,  regardless 
of  the  construction  given  to  the  constitution 
by  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Be 
fore  the  Dred  Scott  decision  this  was  an  open 
question  ;  since  that  decision  it  is  so  no  long 
er.  The  difference  is  plainly  this  :  non-in 
ter  mention  by  Congress  and  qualified  popu 
lar  sovereignty  proposed  such  Territorial 
legislation  as  should  be  in  deference  to,  sub 
ject  to,  and  in  harmony  with  the  decisions 
of  the  Supreme  Court  upon  the  great  ques 
tion.  Squatter  sovereignty  defies  the  au 
thority  of  the  courts,  and  asserts  the  power 
of  the  Territorial  legislature  to  exclude 
slavery  from  the  Territory  by  law,  absolute 
ly,  regardless  of  the  construction  given  to 
the  constitution  by  the  court.  (Cheers.) 

MR.  DICKINSON'S  RESOLUTION  OF  1847,  IN  THE 

SENATE,  AND  MR.  CALHOUN's  VIEWS. 
It  has  been  often  said  with  truth,  that  I 
was  the  first  to  introduce  the  principle  of 
non-intervention  and  qualified  popular  so 
vereignty  into  Congress  for  the  government 
of  the  Territories.  When  the  doctrine  has 
been  regarded  with  disfavor  it  has  been  as 
signed  to  me  ;  but  when  it  has  been  greeted 
with  popular  applause  it  has  had  numerous 
claimants.  It  has  sometimes  been  said,  but 
erroneously,  that  I  was  an  advocate,  if  not 
the  author  of  the  doctrine  of  squatter  sove 
reignty.  I  was,  and  am,  an  advocate  of  non 
intervention  with  qualified  popular  sove 
reignty.  That  is,  with  the  right  of  the  people 
to  legislate  in  harmony  with  the  constitution 
for  their  domestic  government.  I  never  was 
an  advocate  for,  or  a  believer  in,  the  doc 
trine  of  squatter  sovereignty,  and  hold  it  to 
be  an  out  and  out  absurdity.  For  it  makes 
the  laws  of  a  Territorial  Legislature  to  over 
ride  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
The  resolutions  which  I  introduced  in  1847, 
proposing  non-intervention  in  the  Territories 
and  suggesting  the  principle  of  popular 
sovereignty,  in  a  qualified  form,  proposed,  as 
shown  by  the  speech  which  followed  their  in 
troduction,  that  the  Territorial  legislation 
should  keep  in  view  such  construction  as 
should  be  given  to  the  Constitution  by  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  legislate  in  harmony 
with  and  in  declaratory  obedience  to  it. 
They  were  never  brought  to  a  vote,  because 
practical  measures  involving  the  precise 
question  came  under  consideration  soon 
after  their  introduction,  and  for  other  reasons. 
(Cheers.)  In  1848,  Mr.  Calhoun,  myself, 
and  others,  were  upon  the  committee  charged 
with  a  bill  known  as  the  Clayton  Com 
promise.  I  proposed,  and  Mr.  Calhoun  as 
sented,  that  the  bill  should  be  framed  upon 
the  principle  of  non-intervention,  and  it  was 
BO  framed  and  so  passed,  the  Senate,  but 
was,  near  the  close  of  the  session,  laid  on 
the  table  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 
The  only  difference  between  Mr.  Calhoun 


and  myself  upon  the  subject,  then  ar  at  any 
other  time,  was  this:  He  proposed  that  the 
bill  should  recognize,  in  declaratory  form, 
the  right  of  the  citizens  of  all 'the  States  to  go 
to  the  common  Territories  with  their  pro 
perty,  slave  property  included,  and  there  be 
protected.  Without  affirming  or  denying 
his  position,  I  proposed,  as  it  was  an  unset 
tled  question,  and  strictly  belonged  to  the 
judiciary,  to  leave  it  to  be  decided  by  the 
courts,  to  which  he  readily  assented,  remark 
ing  that  the  South  had  such  entire  confidence 
in  the  position  that  they  were  willing  to 
stand  upon  non-intervention,  and  await  a 
judicial  construction  of  the  constitution  and 
of  their  rights  in  the  Territories.  The  posi 
tion  of  Mr.  Calhoun  has  since  been  fully 
vindicated  and  sustained  by  the  Dred  Scott 
decision. 

COMPROMISE  MEASURES  OF    1350. 

The  compromise  measures  of  1850,  were 
based  upon  the  same  non-intervention  idea, 
and  while  they  were  under  discussion  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  I  had  the  honor 
to  state  my  position  there  in  a  speech  upon 
the  floor  as  follows  — 

Now,  sir,  I  wish  to  say,  once  for  all,  that  it  is 
not  iny  intention,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  to 
favor,  by  voice  or  vote,  the  extension  of  slavery, 
or  the  restriction  of  slavery  in  the  Territories,  by 
Congress,  or  any  interference  with  the  subject 
whatever.  Nor  am  I  influenced  in  this  conclusion 
by  the  local  laws  of  the  Territory  in  question, 
either  natural  or  artificial,  the  laws  of  nature  or 
the  laws  of  man;  and,  for  all  the  purposes  of  the 
present  action,  I  will  not  inquire  what  they  are  in 
either  respect.  I  will  stand  upon  the  true"  princi 
ples  of  non-intervention,  in  the  broadest  possible 
sense  for  non-intervention's  sake,  to  uphold  the 
fundamental  principles  of  freedom,  and  for  no 
other  reason,  and  will  leave  the  people  of  the  Ter 
ritories  and  of  the  States  to  such  rights  and  privi 
leges  as  are  theirs  under  the  constitution  and  laws 
of  the  United  States,  without  addition  to,  or  di 
minution  from,  such  rights  by  the  action  of  Con 
gress. 

KANSAS    AND    NEBRASKA  BILL. 

The  Kansas  and  Nebraska  bill,  except  in 
its  disturbance  of  the  Missouri  line,  con 
tained  no  new  principle  whatever,  but  copied 
the  same  non-intervention  principle  which 
had  been  recognized  by  Congress,  and  awaited 
the  judicial  construction  of  the  constitution. 

THE    DRED    SCOTT    DECISION. 

After  the  passage  of  all  these  measures, 
came  the  Dred  Scott  decision  by  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  pronounced  after 
unusual  labor  and  deliberation,  construing 
the  Constitution,  and  the  rights  of  citizens 
of  States  in  the  Territories,  as  Mr.  Calhoun 
and  other  Southern  statesmen  had  contend 
ed,  and  thus  settling  the  question  forever, 
for  all  those  who  propose  to  abide  by  the 
Constitution  and  laws.  The  substance  of 
the  decicion  was  this  : — 


12 


The  territory  acquired,  is  acquired  by  the  people 
of  the  United  States  for  their  common  and  equal 
benefit,  through  their  agent  and  trustee,  the  fede 
ral  government.  Congress  can  exercise  no  power 
over  the  rights  of  persons,  or  property  of  a  citizen 
in  the  Territory,  which  is  prohibited  by  the  Con 
stitution.  The  government  and  the  citizens,  when 
ever  the  Territory  is  opened  to  settlement,  both 
enter  it  with  their  respective  rights  defined  and 


limited   by   the    Constitution. 
right   to   prohibit   the   citizen 


Congress  has 
of  any   particular 


State  or  States  from  making  their  home  there, 
while  it  permits  citizens  of  other  States  to  do  so. 
Nor  has  it  a  right  to  give  privileges  to  one  class 
of  citizens  which  it  refuses  to  another.  The  Ter 
ritory  is  acquired  for  their  equal  and  common 
benefit,  and  if  open  to  any,  it  must  be  open  to  all, 
upon  equal  and  the  same  terms.  Every  citizen 
has  a  right  to  take  with  him  into  the  territory  any 
article  of  property.  The  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  recognizes  slaves  as  property,  and  pledges 
the  federal  government  to  protect  it,  and  Congress 
cannot  exercise  any  more  authority  over  property  of 
that  description  than  it  may  constitutionally  exer 
cise  over  property  of  any  other  kind.  The  act  of 
Congress,  therefore,  prohibiting  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  from  taking  with  him  slaves  when 
he  removes  to  the  Territory  in  question  to  reside 
is  an  exercise  of  authority  over  private  property 
which  is  not  warranted  by  the  Constitution,  and 
the  removal  of  the  plaintiff,  by  his  owner  to  that 
Territory,  gave  him  no  title  to  freedom. 

Now,  if  all  had  acquiesced  in  this  decision, 
like  good  citizens  ;  had  yielded  willing  and 
cheerful  assent  and  obedience  to  it  as  an 
authentic  construction  of  the  fundamen 
tal  law,  by  the  highest  tribunal,  the  question 
of  slavery  in  the  Territories  would  have  been 
at  rest,  and  the  democratic  party  would 
have  been  on  its  way  rejoicing.  But,  every 
kind  of  means  was  resorted  to  to  evade  it. 
Rampant  abolitionism,  more  manly  than  its 
accomplices  in  mischief,  openly  denounced 
it  and  defied  it,  as  it  is  wont  to  do  all  legal 
obstacles  to  the  consummation  of  its  own 
distempered  idea  —  demagogism  inflated  it 
self  —  fanaticism  foamed,  and  trimming  cow 
ardice  shrunk  around  it  and  insisted  that 
the  question  was  not  decided,  and  all  these 
combined  together,  sought  to  deny  to  the 
citizens  of  the  slave  States  the  benefits  of  the 
decision,  either  in  theory  or  practice. 
(Cheers.)  I  repeat,  the  South  were  satisfied 
with  non-intervention,  awaiting  in  good  faith 
the  decision  of  the  courts  before  this  adjudi 
cation  ;  since  the  decision,  they  would  have 
been  satisfied  with  non-intervention,  and 
the  acknowledgment  and  practical  execution 
of  it  according  to  its  fair  and  equitable 
spirit. 

THE    OBJECTION    OF    THE    SOUTH    TO    MR. 
DOUGLAS. 

The  South  did  not  object  to  Mr.  Douglas 
because  of  his  principles  of  non-intervention 
•  —  nor  because  of  his  doctrines  of  qualified 
popular  sovereignty  in  the  Territories,  as  is 
so  often  and  so  pompously  alleged  ;  but  their 
opposition  to  him  arises,  to  say  nothing  of 


his  unfortunate  controversy  with  the  admin 
istration,  frosa  his  advocacy  of  what  they 
regard  as  a  most  rank  and  mischievous 
error,  the  squatter  sovereignty  heresy  ;  con 
tending,  as  he  does,  as  we  have  alreaiy  seen, 
bhat  notwithstanding  the  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court  in  the  Dred  Scott  case,  hold 
ing  that  all  citizens  with  their  property  are 
to  be  admitted  there  on  equal  terms,  slavo 
property  included,  a  Territorial  legislature 
may,  by  its  enacted  law,  exclude  slave  prop 
erty  from  the  Territory — thus  virtually  in 
vesting  a  Territorial  legislature  with  power 
to  annul  this  provision  of  the  Constitution 
as  construed  by  the  highest  tribunal  known 
to  the  law.  These  are  the  articles  of  creed 
proposed  by  Mr.  Douglas,  to  which  the 
South  object.  In  the  celebrated  campaign 
debate  with  Mr.  Lincoln,  previous  to  the 
Dred  Scott  decision,  in  answer  to  certain 
questions  proposed  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  Mr. 
Douglas  answered  as  follows  : — 

The  next  question  propounded  to  me  by  Mr. 
Lincoln  is, — Can  the  people  of  a  Territory,  in  any 
lawful  way,  against  the  wishes  of  the  United 
States,  exclude  slavery  from  their  limits  prior  to 
tha  formation  of  a  State  Constitution  ?  I  answer 
emphatically,  as  Mr.  Lincoln  has  heard  me  answer 
a  hundred  times  from  every  stump  in  Illinois,  that 
in  my  opinion,  the  people  of  a  Territory  can,  by 
lawful  means,  exclude  slavery  from  their  limits 
prior  to  the  formation  of  a  State  Constitution. 
Mr.  Lincoln  knew  that  I  had  answered  that  ques 
tion  over  and  over  again.  He  heard  me  argue  the 
Nebraska  bill  on  that  principle  all  over  the  State 
in  1854,  in  1 855,  and  in  1856,  and  he  has  no  excuse 
for  pretending  to  be  in  doubts  as  to  my  position  on 
that  question. 

After  the  Dred  Scott  decision  had  been 
pronounced  .  and  published,  Mr.  Douglas 
states  his  position  thus  : — 

It  matters  not  what  way  the  Supreme  Court  may 
hereafter  decide  as  to  the  abstract  question, 
whether  slavery  may  or  may  not  go  into  a  Terri 
tory  under  the  Constitution,  the  people  have  the 
lawful  means  to  introduce  or  exclude  it  as  they 
please,  for  that  slavery  cannot  exist  a  day  or  an 
hour  anywhere  unless  it  is  supported  by  local 
police  regulations.  These  police  regulations  can 
only  be  established  by  the  local  legislature;  afffl 
if  the  people  are  opposed  to  slavery,  they  will 
elect  representatives  to  that  body  who  will,  by 
unfriendly  legislation  effectually  prevent  the  intro 
duction  of  it  into  their  midst.  If,  on  the  contrary, 
they,  are  for  it,  their  legislation  will  favor  its  ex 
tension.  Hence,  no  matter  what  the  decision  of 
the  Supreme  Court  may  be  upon  that  abstract  quefi 
tion,  still  the  right  of  the  people  to  make  a  slHve 
Territory  of  a  free  Territory  is  perfect  and  com 
plete  uuder  the  Nebraska  bill.  I  hope  Mr.  Lincoln 
deems  my  answer  satisfactory  on  that  point. 

If  it  be  true,  that  the  Territorial  Legisla 
ture  can,  by  an  act,  exclude  the  citizen  of 
a  Southern  State,  with  his  slave  property, 
from  all  enjoyments  of,  and  participation  in 
the  common  territorial  property  of  all  the 
States,  as  is  asserted  by  Mr.  Douglas,  tiie 


13 


constitution  and  the  decisions  of  the  Su 
preme  Court  and  the  rights  of  person  and 
property  there,  are  the  playthings  of  a  Ter 
ritorial  Legislature,  to  be  put  up  and  down 
— to  be  given  or  taken  away  at  pleasure. 
(Cheers.)  For  these  doctrines  the  Southern 
States  refused  to  accept  Mr.  Douglas  as  a 
candidate,  and  who,  had  he  been  with  and 
of  them,  would  have  done  otherwise.  But 
whether  the  Southern  States  were  reason 
able  or  capricious  in  their  refusal  to  accept 
and  support  Mr.  Douglas,  they  had  taken 
their  stand  deliberately,  after  mature  consi 
deration — their  avowal  was  before  the  coun 
try  and  was  well  understood ;  and  unless  he 
had  some  pre-emptive  right  to  the  nomina 
tion,  which  is  not  conceded,  they  had  a 
right  to  set  him  aside  as  a  mere  matter  of 
choice  without  any  reason  whatever.  These 
States  held  one  hundred  and  twenty  elec 
toral  votes,  sure  for  the  democracy  with  an 
acceptable  candidate,  while  every  other 
State  except  those  on  the  Pacific,  were  coun 
ted  against  us  or  doubtful,  and  yet,  mana 
gers  of  the  minority  and  doubtful  States,  by 
artifice  and  combinations,  sought,  through 
the  strangely  protracted  sessions  of  the  Con 
ventions  held  at  Charleston  and  Baltimore, 
to  force  this  one  candidate  upon  the  South 
ern  States,  and  in  this  persistent  and  insane 
effort,  first  dismembered  and  then  adjourned 
the  Convention  at  Charleston,  and  finally 
divided  and  broke  it  up  at  Baltimore.  It 
was  of  all  others  an  occasion  when  all  mere 
individual  preference  should  have  been  for 
gotten  and  surrendered  for  the  public  good  ; 
but  it  was  Douglas  or  nothing,  and  hence 
the  result.  The  Convention  broken  up,  the 
party  divided,  and  all  for  a  candidate  who 
cannot  get  a  single  electoral  vote.  The 
democratic  party  under  such  rule  is  like  the 
serpent  in  the  fable,  which  gave  up  the  lead 
for  a  time  to  the  tail  instead  of  the  head  to 
prevent  its  clamor,  and  in  attempting  to  go 
tail  foremost  it  stuck  fast,  and  thus  remain 
ed — the  tail  refusing  to  give  up  the  right  to 
go  ahead.  And  thus  will  the  democratic 
party  remain  until  it  sheds  its  tapering  ex 
tremity  which  insists  on  being  honored  with 
command. 

CHARGE    OF   A   SLAVE    CODE — THE    DEMOCRATIC 
PLATFORM. 

For  the  purpose  of  turning  attention  from 
the  weakness  and  absurdity  of  their  own 
position,  for  the  mad  and  selfish  prostration 
of  the  Democratic  party,  to  alarm  the  fears 
of  the  timid,  shake  the  knees  of  the  weak, 
and  administer  to  the  morbid  cravings  of  a 
lingering  and  dormant  abolitionism,  they 
proclaim  that  the  national  democracy  who 
have  placed  in  nomination  Breckinridge 
and  Lane  are  the  advocates  of  a  slave  code 
for  the  Territories.  This  ideal  bantling  was 
begotten  by  design  upon  ignorance,  and  is 


supported  by  empty  noise  and  brazen  clamor. 
The  platform  asked  for  and  insisted  upon  by- 
Southern  States,  was  just  what  the  Consti 
tution  entitles  them  to,  as  construed  by  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  nothing  more.  Here 
it  ia  in  all  its  length  and  breadth,  as  adopt 
ed  in  the  Convention  of  Democratic  States, 
which  nominated  Breckinridge  and  Lane. 
It  is  the  same  non-intervention  which  every 
true  Democrat  has  advocated,  and  giving 
effect  to  the  decision  of  the  Court,  and  no 
thing  more.  Let  every  Democrat  read  it 
with  unclouded  vision,  and  not  through'  the 
smoked  glass  of  incipient  abolitionism ;  let 
him  analyze  it  carefully,  and  then' tell  us  in 
what  section  or  sentence  or  syllable  this 
terrific  slave  code  reposes ;  and  when  read 
and  weighed  and  understood,  let  all  who 
cannot  subscribe  to  the  great  principles  of 
personal  and  State  equality  there  enunciat 
ed,  as  established  and  guaranteed  by  the 
Constitution,  and  authorized  and  vindicated 
by  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  remember  that  he  has  taken 
the  first  lesson  in  abolition  republicanism, 
and  is  already  on  his  way  to  that  organiza 
tion  in  his  sympathy  with  a  sectional  bigot 
ed  creed  and  narrow  political  belief.  But 
here  is  the  platform  of  Democratic  princi 
ples  which  will  speak  for  itself: — 


PLATFORM  OF  THE  REGULAR  NATIONAL    DEMOCRACY 
— ADOPTED  IN  CONVENTION  AT  BALTIMORE,  JUNE, 


1860. 


Resolved,  That  the  platform  adopted  by  the 
democratic  party  at  Cincinnati  be  affirmed,  with 
the  following  explanatory  resolutions  :— 

First. — That  the  government  of  a  Territory, 
organized  by  an  act  of  Congress,  is  provisional 
and  temporary,  and  during  its  existence  all  citi 
zens  of  the  United  States  have  an  equal  right  to 
settle  with  their  property  in  the  Territory,  without 
their  rights,  either  of  person  or  property,  being 
destroyed  or  injured  by  Congressional  or  Territorial 
legislation. 

Second.— That  it  ia  the  duty  of  the  federal  gov 
ernment,  in  all  its  department:!,  to  protect  the 
rights  of  persons  and  property  in  the  Territories, 
and  wherever  else  its  constitutional  authority  ex 
tends. 

Third. — That  when  the  settlers  in  a  Territory, 
having  an  adequate  population,  form  a  State  con 
stitution,  the  right  of  sovereignty  commences, 
and  being  consummated  by  their  admission  into 
the  Union,  they  stand  on  an  equality  with  the 
people  of  other  States,  and  a  State  thus  organized 
ought  to  be  admitted  into  the  Federal  Union 
whether  its  constitution  prohibits  or  recognizes  the 
institution  of  slavery. 

Resolved,  That  the  democratic  party  are  in  favor 
of  the  acquisition  of  the  Island  of  Cuba  on  such 
terms  as  shall  be  honorable  to  ourselves  and  just 
to  Spain,  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment. 

Resolved,  That  the  enactments  of  State  Legis 
latures  to  defeat  the  faithful  execution  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  law,  are  hostile  in  character,  sub- 
rersive  of  the  constitution  and  revolutionary  iti 
effect. 

Resolved,  That  the  democracy  of  the  United 
States  recognizes  it  as  the  imperative  duty  of  this 


government  to  protect  the  naturalized  citizen  in 
all  his  rights,  whether  at  home  or  in  foreign  lauds, 
to  the  same  extent  as  its  native  born  citizeni. 

Whereas,  One  of  the  greatest  necessities  of  the 
age,  in  a  political,  commercial,  postal,  and  mili 
tary  point  of  view,  is  a  speedy  communication 
between  the  Pacific  and  Atlantic  coasts;  therefore, 
be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  national  democratic  party  do 
hereby  pledge  themselves  to  use  every  means  in 
their  power  to  secure  the  passage  of  some  bill,  to 
the  extent  of  their  constitutional  authority  by 
Congress,  for  the  construction  of  a  Pacific  Railroad 
from  the  Mississippi  river  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  at 
the  earliest  practicable  moment. 

Let  us  hereafter  hear  no  more  from  any 
one  professing  the  democratic  creed,  and 
pretending  devotion  and  obedience  to  the 
constitution  and  laws,  in  denunciation  of 
the  Southern  Democratic  States,  or  assert 
ing  that  they  have  either  proposed  or  de 
manded  a  slave  code,  or  that  the  Convention 
of  Democratic  States  which  nominated 
Breckinridge  and  Lane  have  adopted  one, 
but  let  all  such  foolish  fabrications  be  left 
to  the  rantingsof  Sumner,  and  Cheever,  and 
Giddings,  and  their  sombre  associates. — 
(Cheers,  laughter,  and  hisses.) 

DEMOCRATIC    NOMINEES. 

The  public  and  private  history  of  our 
nominees  constitutes  their  eulogy.  Both 
are  now,  and  for  years  have  been,  in  high 
places  in  the  government.  Mr.  Breckin 
ridge  is  an  able,  intrepid,  and  popular  states 
man,  and  General  Lane  has  written  his  name 
upon  his  country's  history  with  his  sword. 
They  are  true  friends  to  the  constitution, 
and  free  from  the  expediency  clap-traps  of 
the  day.  They  were  placed  in  nomination 
by  the  operations  of  public  sentiment,  and 
not  forced  upon  the  public  by  the  process 
of  political  machinery.  They  will  carry 
seventeen  States  by  acclamation,  with  a  fair 
chance  for  others  in  addition. 

REGULARITY   OP    NOMINATIONS. 

When  all  other  expedients  fail,  we  are  re 
minded  that  the  nomination  of  Douglas  and 
Johnson  is  entitled  to  support  over  the  other 
for  its  regularity;  and  I  have  observed  that 
certain  gentleman  who  were  regular  mem 
bers  of  the  speckled  Buffalo  Convention  of 
lb'48,  are  most  emphatic  in  swearing  alle 
giance  to  regularity.  The  Convention  which 
mttde  this  nomination  had  no  sign  nor  show 
nor  shadow  of  regularity.  The  delegated 
Convention  at  Charleston  had  no  power  to 
adjourn  to  Baltimore — a  distance  of  hun 
dreds  of  miles,  in  another  State,  and  nearly 
two  months  afterward.  No  such  thing  was 
ever  contemplated  ;  no  such  power  or  dis 
cretion  was  delegated  even  by  the  most  far 
fetched  implications.  A  good  nomination 
at  Baltimore  would  have  been  entitled  to 
respect  and  support,  but  not  on  the  score 


of  regularity,  for  it  had  not  even  the  sem 
blance  of  it. 

The  regular  delegations  for  a  large  num 
ber  of  States  were  rejected,  and  bogus  con 
testants,  some  of  them  without  pretense  of  reg 
ularity  or  delegated  authority  were  admitted 
in  their  places,  while  regular  delegations 
from  numerous  other  States,  because  of  this 
outrage,  withdrew,  and  this  pretended  regu 
lar  Convention  was  a  mere  fraction  of  one, 
partly  but  not  wholly  filled  up  with  unau 
thorized  persons  from  the  outside.  It  acted 
in  violation  of  the  uniform  rule  of  democratic 
National  Conventions,  which  it  had  itself 
adopted,  requiring  two  thirds  to  nominate, 
and  then  disregarded  it  in  making  the  nom 
inations,  for  at  no  time,  bogus  delegates  in 
cluded,  did  the  vote  reach  near  a  two-thirds 
vote.  Its  nominee  for  Vice-President  was 
Mr.  Fitzpatrick,  who  declined  to  accept  such 
a  nomination,  and  the  regularity  of  Mr.  John 
son,  who  now  runs  as  Vice-President  with 
Mr.  Douglas,  consists  in  the  requests  of  some 
half  dozen  individuals,  after  the  adjourn 
ment,  that  he  should  run — in  and  which  re 
quest,  it  seems,  he  cordially  united.  (Cheers.) 
The  regular  President  of  the  Convention, 
Gen.  Gushing,  left  his  chair  and  went  away, 
and  presided  over  the  Convention  which 
nominated  Breckinridge  and  Lane — so  that 
the  regularity  of  the  nomination  of  Douglas 
and  Johnson  may  be  summed  up  in  this: 
that  Mr.  Johnson  was  not  and  has  not  yet 
been  nominated  by  any  convention  ;  that 
Mr.  Douglas  was  nominated  by  delegates 
of  an  irregular  fractional,  broken-up  Con 
vention,  without  a  head,  without  a  democra 
tic  body,  but  a  mere  skeleton,  half  soft,  half 
republican  State  delegations  and  a  bogus 
tail. 

No  one  pretends  that  the  nominations  of 
Breckinridge  and  Lane  have  the  authority 
of  a  regular  National  Convention,  according 
to  the  usages  of  the  party ;  but  they  have 
more  claim  to  regularity  than  the  other. 
The  Convention  had  a  head  in  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  whole  Convention.  It  had  a 
democratic  body  in  the  regular  delegations 
from  all  the  sure  democratic  States — a  ma 
jority  of  the  States  of  the  Union — it  had  no 
bogus  extremity  and  it  had  a  platform  of 
manly  principle — of  liberty,  equality  and 
fraternity  upon  which  every  true  democrat  of 
the  whole  union  can  stand  together.  The 
question  recurs  what  shall  we  do  ?  Do ! 
Why,  stand  resolutely  by  principle,  and  let 
the  storm  rage  on — there  is  sunshine  be 
yond  the  clouds — shun  all  entangling  alli 
ances  of  every  name  and  kind.  The  readi 
est,  surest,  speediest,  most  honorable  way  to 
success  is  to  repudiate  all  fusions,  all  fac 
tions,  all  patchwork,  all  devices,  all  expedi 
ents  all  efforts  to  mend  the  break  as  old  la 
dies  mend  broken  crockery,  with  Spaulding's 
prepared  glue,  all  efforts  to  be  upon  both 


15 


sides,  and  stand  by  our  candidates  and  our 
creed.  We  shall  then  commence  to  deserve 
success,  and  if  we  persevere  in  this  stern  path 
of  constitutional  rectitude  we  shall  preserve 
our  self  respect,  command  the  respect  of  all 
others,  and  our  efforts  will  be  crowned  with 
triumph  for  our  party  and  our  principles, 
the  good  influences  of  which  will  last  when 
party  managers  and  tricksters  and  their  vile 
schemes  are  forgotten,  or  remembered  only 
to  be  hated  and  execrated. 

Loud  and  repeated  cries  for  "O'Conor  and 
Brady"  then  resounded  through  the  hall. 

The  PRESIDENT  stated  that  Mr.  O'Conor 
was  absent  from  the  city,  and  that  Mr.  Bra 
dy  was  not  well  enough  to  attend  the  meet- 
hig. 

A  VOICE— That's  too  bad. 

Then  there  were  cries  for "  Governor 
Wise,"  "  Benjamin,"  "  Yancey  "  and  "  Ste- 
yens." 

The  PRESIDENT  entreated  gentlemen  to 
come  to  order,  as  he  desired  to  submit  a  reso 


lution  to  the  meeting  before  he  should  in 
troduce  the  next  speaker. 

The  following  resolution  was  then  read 
and  agreed  to : 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  one  from 
each  Congressional  district  be  appointed  to 
call  a  State  Convention  to  nominate  an  elec 
toral  ticket  and  candidates  for  the  coming 
election. 

The  PRESIDENT  then  introduced  to  the 
meeting  Captain  Marriott,  who  he  said,  had 
served  with  General  Lane  in  Mexico.  (Ap 
plause.)  Capt.  M.  made  a  stirring  speech, 
and  was  followed  by  Mr.  A.  R.  Wood,  who 
concluded  the  proceedings  in  a  few  well- 
timed  remarks. 

OUTSIDE   MEETING. 

A  large  meeting  outside,  composed  of 
some  eight  thousand  persons,  was  addressed 
by  several  distinguished  gentlemen.  After 
the  adjournment  Mr.  Dickinson  and  Mr. 
John  T.  Henry  were  serenaded. 


LETTER  'FROM  EX-PRESIDENT  PIERCE, 


BOSTON,  July  13,  1860. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  BOSTON  POST: 

Gentlemen:  —  I  have  seen,'  in  several  po 
litical  presses,  conflicting  opinions  ascribed 
to  Ex-President  Pierce  in  relation  to  the 
final  action  of  the  Baltimore  Convention  ; 
and  having  had  the  opportunity,  at  an  early 
period,  in  a  friendly  correspondence,  to 
learn  the  views  of  that  eminent  citizen  in  a 
crisis  so  important  to  the  Democracy  and 
the  Union,  which  I  know  his  further  reflec 
tion  has  fully  confirmed.  I  am  happy  to  say 
that  I  am  at  liberty,  without  infringing  on 
private  courtesy,  to"  send  the  letter  to  you 
for  publication.  Very  truly,  yours,  etc., 

B.'F.  HALLETT. 


N.  H.,  June  29,  1860. 

My  Dear  Sir:  —  Your  letter  from  Balti 
more  directed  to  me  at  New  York  and  for 
warded  thence  to  Concord,  has  at  last  reach 
ed  me  here,  and  I  will  not  lay  it  aside  with 
out  saying  a  word  in  reply.  Your  rejection 
as  a  delegate  was,  in  my  judgment,  a  clear 
violation  of  right  :  but  it  must  have  gratified 
your  friends  on  the  spot,  as  it  has  me  since, 
to  observe  that  the  wrong  perpetrated  in 
your  exclusion  was  not  more  palpable  than 
your  vindication  of  sound  principles  and  of 
your  claims  to  a  seat  was  conclusive  and 
triumphant. 

It  was  in  vain  to  hope  for  harmony  after 
the  action  of  the  majority  upon  the  report  of 
the  committee  on  credentials.  It  could  hard 
ly  have  failed  to  be  understood  generally, 


that  such  action  must  terminate  the  exis 
tence  of  the  Convention  as  a  body  represent 
ing  the  Democracy  of  the  Union,  and  even 
tuate  in  the  present  condition  of  the  power 
ful  and  patriotic  organization,  which  lias  so 
long  upheld  the  equal  rights,  and  vindicated 
in  peace  and  in  war  the  common  honor  of 
these  confederated  States.  There  has  been, 
in  fact,  no  nomination  made  in  conformity 
with  the  established  and  recognized  usages 
of  that  organization,  and  hence  sound  and 
faithful  men  will  find  nothing  in  the  pro 
ceedings,  so  far  as  the  nominees  are  con 
cerned,  to  bind  their  party  fealty.  Under 
these  circumstances,  it  would  gratify  mo  ex 
ceedingly  if  our  friends  in  all  sections  of  the 
land  could  unite  earnestly  and  cordially  in 
the  support  of  Mr.  Breckinridge  and  Gen- 
Lane.,  and  thus  ensure  for  our  cause  signal 
victory ;  but  this  cannot  even  be  hoped  for. 
What  then  is  to  be  done  with  a  result  so  re 
pugnant  to  our  wishes  ?  It  is  of  less  con 
sequence  to  discuss  who  were  right  and  who 
wrong  upon  the  question  of  membership  in 
the  Convention,  than  if  is  to  determine  how 
the  Democratic  party,  whi3h  united  is  invin 
cible,  can  avert  the  calamity  of  an  irrecon 
cilable  breach.  If  division  'is  at  present  in 
evitable,  it  may  be  well  to  inquire  whether 
it  is  to  be  permanent.  Is  devotion  to  prin 
ciple,  to  the  equal  rights  of  the  States,  and 
to  the  integrity  of  the  Union,  to  be  sacri 
ficed  to  any  object  of  personal  ambition,  or, 
what  is  worse,  if  ppssible,  to  the  blind  con 
trol  of  passion,  of  which  we  have  already 


16 


had  too  much  ?  Have  the  doctrines  and 
sentiments  of  sectional  fanaticism  which 
culminated  last  year  in  the  armed  invasion 
of  a  sister  State  with  the  avowed  purpose 
of  exciting  insurrection,  ceased  to  be  dan 
gerous  ?  Where  is  the  evidence  of  change 
in  the  direction  of  sounder  and  more  con 
servative  opinions  ?  I  do  not  perceive  it. 
It  certainly  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  want 
of  concert,  so  apparent  among  the  great 
body  of  our  countrymen  who  are  opposed  to 
the  principles  and  policy  of  which  Mr.  Lin- 
•coln  and  Mr.  Hamlin  are  now  the  ^represen- 
tative  men. 

While  it  would  be  culpable  weakness  to 
intermit  effort  for  the  right,  there  is  neither 
wisdom  nor  courage  in  turning  from  a  full 
view  of  the  embarrassments  which  beset  our 
party,  arid  the  dangers  which  threaten  our 
country.  The  only  manly  idea  on  which  to 
act  is,  "  Things  are  bad  and  may  be  worse, 
but  with  the  blessing  of  God  we  will  try  to 
make  them  better."  At  all  events,  it  is  no 
time  for  crimination  and  recrimination 
among  those  who  expect  hereafter  to  need 
and  to  have  each  the  support  of  the-  other. 
It  cannot  mend  the  past— cannot  help  the 
present — and  cannot  fail  to  be  disastrous  to 
the  future.  He  who  takes  a  different  view 
and  acts  upon  it,  will  only  accumulate  a 
harvest  of  regrets  by  uttering  sentiments 
to  be  explained,  qualified,  or  recalled,  unless 
indeed  he  is  already  at  the  *'  half-way 
,"  (where  so  many  have  stopped  tem- 


before)  only  to  resume  his  march 
and  take  his  place  in  the  ranks  of  those 
whose  opinions  arid  action  have  been  in  di 
rect  antagonism  with  his  own.  I  am  not 
without  hope  that  the  sterling  Democracy 
of  the  Keystone  State  will  be  able  unitedly 
to  support  the  electoral  ticket  already  nomi 
nated  by  them,  without  regard  to  the  pre 
ference  of  the  individual  nominees,  but  with 
a  satisfactory  understanding  as  to  the  man 
ner  in  which  the  vote  of  the  State  shall,  in 
certain  contingencies,  be  cast;  and  that  their 
example  may  be  followed  by  other  States, 
and  thus  something  like  unanimity  be  yet 
secured.  Should  a  policy  like  this,  at  once 
conciliatory  and  just,  be  pursued,  we  may 
well  be  animated  by  fresh  hope  and  confi 
dence. 

I  expect  to  be  in  Boston  next  week,  when 
we  can  interchange  thoughts  more  fully  and 
satisfactorily  than  it  is  possible  to  do  by 
letter.  In  the  meantime  if  you  see  the  edi 
tors  of  the  Post  (especially  Col.  Green),  will 
you  express  to  them  my  thanks  for  the  well- 
considered,  Able,  and  dispassionate  article 
in  which  they  grappled  with  the  emergency 
of  a  divided  National  Convention,  and  for 
the  characteristic  promptitude  with  which 
they  assumed  a 'position,  which  I  am  confi 
dent  more  ample  time  for  reflection  willfully 
justify.  Very  trulv,  your  friend, 

FRANKLIN    PIERCE, 

Hon.  B.  F.  HlLLETT,  Boston,  Mas§. 


S^af^gfWr 


£*        Gaylamount 

Pamphlet 
.  Binder 

Gaylord  Bros.,  Inc. 
I         Stockton,  Calif. 
9     T.M.  Reg.  U.S.  Pat.  Off. 


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